(1) Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile terminal device, a computer executable program for exchanging personal information, a method for exchanging personal information, and a system for exchanging personal information, enabling exchanging personal information in a level-wise fashion, suitably applicable to mobile devices such as mobile phones, personal handyphone systems (PHS), personal digital assistants (PDA), handheld gaming devices, notebook personal computers having a short range wireless communications function such as, e.g., infrared communication, Bluetooth™, wireless local area network (LAN), or non-contact IC card and a wireless communications function for performing wireless communications via a wireless base station. Particularly, the invention relates to a mobile terminal device, a computer executable program for exchanging personal information, and a method and system for exchanging personal information, whereby respective sets of personal information for respective peer users exchanged for a predetermined period of time are automatically grouped and registered, so that a member of the group with which personal information was exchanged can easily be identified later.
(2) Description of the Related Art
JP-A No. 2001-333451 (pp. 4-5, FIG. 1 and FIG. 8) discloses a system for communication services between terminals in which checking peer's information and transferring personal information in a level-wise fashion are carried out by means of short range wireless communications combined with wide area network wireless communications.
In this system for communication services between terminals, when a first mobile terminal and a second mobile terminal are located within a given range with respect to each other, these mobile terminals exchange mutual access codes and access passwords together with minimum necessary information such as user's sexuality, age, and conditions, transparently to the users of the terminals, through their short range wireless communications units.
Then, if the user of the first mobile terminal which exchanged, as above, minimum necessary information with the second mobile terminal wants to know detailed personal information about the user of the second mobile terminal, the first terminal user transmits the access code and access password received from the second mobile terminal during the above exchange, together with the user ID and password of the first mobile terminal to a server, through a wide area network communications unit. The server performs user authentication based on the user ID and password received from the first mobile terminal. If the first terminal user is authenticated as a valid user, the server sends the second mobile terminal a message asking if the user of the second mobile terminal accepts transmission of his or her detailed personal information. If the server receives a reply message that accepts the transmission of the detailed personal information from the second mobile terminal, the server transmits the detailed personal information for the user of the second mobile terminal to the first mobile terminal. In this way, exchanging personal information in a level-wise fashion can be carried out; i.e., minimum necessary information is first exchanged and detailed personal information is then exchanged, only if its transmission is accepted.